Early Review – Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: September 5, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1250077738
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“At sixteen, Mina’s mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone―has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.

Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do―and who to be―to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.”

I got this book through NetGalley to review. This book started a bit slow but picked up a lot around page 80 or so. I ended up being really drawn into the story. This is a retelling of Snow White that was done in a very smart and compelling way.

There are a lot of strong female characters in here but I loved how real they seemed. The majority of characters really aren’t good or evil they are just struggling to make it through their lives doing what they think is right.

The writing is beautifully done and makes it easy to imagine the surroundings and characters; it’s a very beautiful story. I also loved some of the twists to the story and how the ending was done; it had such a hopeful feel to it.

Overall this was a beautiful and complex retelling of Snow White. The story has a wonderful dark fantasy fairytale feel to it and the characters are amazing. Even though the story started out slow I ended up being really impressed by the end. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for books by Bashardoust in the future.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– YA Reading Challenge